Best Hair Mask for Dry Hair

The best hair mask for dry hair is the one that suits how thick your hair is and what made it dry in the first place. Dry hair is short on moisture and oil, so it feels rough, looks dull and tangles easily. A mask gives back more than your everyday conditioner can, because it is richer and stays on longer. Pick the wrong weight, though, and you swap dry for flat and greasy.

Mask or conditioner?

Conditioner smooths the outside of the hair so it combs out and sits flat. It works in a minute and rinses off. A mask does the same job with more in it and more time to work. If your hair feels fine after conditioner, you don't need a mask. If it still feels rough or straw-like once it's dry, add one, and keep using a conditioner for dry hair on the other wash days.

How to choose

Start with how thick each strand is, not how much hair you have.

• Fine hair: go for a light, hydrating mask. Heavy creams full of oils and butters weigh fine hair down. Keep it to the mid-lengths and ends.
• Medium to thick hair: a richer, creamier mask suits you. Thick or coarse hair can take more oil without going limp.
• Curly or wavy hair: curls dry out faster because the natural oil from the scalp struggles to travel down a bend. Look at the best hair mask for dry curly hair for formulas made to soften without pulling the curl straight.
• Coloured or lightened hair: colour and bleach rough up the outside of the hair, so it loses moisture faster. A hair mask for coloured hair is made to be gentle on your colour as well as your ends.
• Dry ends that split: a mask smooths ends and makes them easier to manage, but it can't join a split back together. Only a trim does that. For ends that need extra care, see the best hair mask for split ends.
• Dry and frizzy: frizz is often dry hair showing itself on a humid day. If frizz is the bigger problem, the best hair mask for frizzy hair puts more weight on smoothing.

How to use it

Shampoo first, then squeeze out as much water as you can. A mask on dripping hair gets watered down. Work it through the mid-lengths and ends, where hair is oldest and driest, and keep it off the roots unless the label says otherwise. Leave it on for the time on the pack, then rinse well. Leftover product makes hair feel heavy and coated, which is easy to mistake for still dry.

Once a week suits most dry hair. Very dry, coloured or heat-styled hair can take it twice. If your hair starts to feel soft but limp, cut back.

What to pair it with

A mask can't undo what a harsh wash takes out every day. Start with the best shampoo for dry hair, condition every wash, and bring in the mask once or twice a week. For leave-ins, oils and everything else made for this concern, browse our dry hair products.

AMR stocks masks from professional salon brands, so you can compare light and rich formulas side by side and pick by hair type, not by guesswork. See all hair masks for the full range.

You may also like

best hair mask for thin hair | hair mask for grey hair